Bharat Electronics Ltd. said it incurred business losses to the tune of ₹2,200 crore during fiscal 2021-22 following chip shortages and disruptions in the global supply chain.
Addressing the media here on Wednesday, BEL CMD Anandi Ramalingam said the company would have recorded an additional turnover of ₹2,200 crore had the supply-side environment been better in the March-ended fiscal.
“We expected a growth of 10-15% but due to a global chip shortage, pandemic and the geopolitical situation affecting logistics, we lost some business that would have otherwise come to us as additional turnover,’‘ she elaborated
BEL has posted a turnover of ₹15,044 crore in the fiscal against ₹13,818 crore in the year-earlier period, marking a 9% growth.
During the fiscal, the PSU posted a net profit of ₹2,349 crore against ₹2,065 crore. However, the company’s exports have drastically dropped to $33.30 million from $51.93 million.
During FY’22, the company’s order book stood at ₹57,570 crore as against ₹53,434 crore.
Ms. Ramalingam said the company has set a target to collect orders worth ₹20,000 crore every year. It also has the mandate to get to a 20% growth range in the coming years while in the current fiscal it would grow 15%, she added.
To grow its non-defence business, the PSU would be expanding in the areas of civil aviation traffic management, healthcare equipment such as dialysis machines, oxygen concentrators and other medical electronics devices, metro doors and rail equipment and smart city projects.
“We are trying to increase our revenues from non-defence business. Currently, 88% of our business is in the defence sector and ideally, we should reach a mix of 80:20,’‘ Ms. Ramalingam further said.
During the last fiscal, the company spent ₹465 crore on capex towards modernisation of plant and machinery, test instruments etc. In the current year, it has set aside ₹750 crore towards various expansion initiatives
The company also said it would invest ₹1,000 crore in R&D activities this year.
